Airport Link discount fails to pull crowds

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Airport Link discount fails to pull crowds

Published: 10 Dec 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The Airport Rail Link's flat 20-baht fare for its City Line has failed to attract as many passengers as expected, causing the system to run at a loss of almost 2 million baht a month.

Chamroon Tangpaisarnkit, chairman of the SRT Electric Train Co which runs the Airport Rail Link, said the 20-baht discount rate _ which began on Sept 30 and is due to end on Dec 31 for the system's City Line, running between 11am and 2pm _ has only slightly increased the number of passengers using the City Line.

At some times during the operating hours in which the discount has been offered, the City Line has attracted the same number of passengers travelling as before the discounted fare rate was introduced, or 5,000 passengers during the entire period, he said.

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bluebottle
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Discussion 10 : 13 Dec 2012 at 11.3810
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I believe they were told by many readers that it would not address the problem.
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democrazy
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Discussion 9 : 10 Dec 2012 at 12.099
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The MRT subway-line and this Airport Link are both managed by government agencies. And both lines make a loss. The BTS Skytrain is privately managed and makes a profit. The furure mass transit lines will all be run by government agencies. The State Railway of Thailands losses exceed 10 billion baht a year.
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malaysian
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Discussion 8 : 10 Dec 2012 at 12.058
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They should fully integrate the Makkasan Station with the Petchburi MRT. Maybe have feeder bus lines to other stations because connections to the stations inbetween the major interchanges is absymal...
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tansri
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Discussion 7 : 10 Dec 2012 at 10.367
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Bad station locations, accessibility and design plus lack of connections to BTS and MRT.
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djay
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Discussion 6 : 10 Dec 2012 at 10.226
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In the morning and evening the city line trains are packed, but the express line trains are empty. Why do they insist on running the express line trains when there are no passengers. In fact, I see more people with luggage going to/from the airport on the city line than I do on the express trains.
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bystander
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Discussion 5 : 10 Dec 2012 at 09.555
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Simple answer: Lack of convenience. When travelling with luggage, door-to-door service via taxi is much more convenient. Who would want to cart luggage through a train system where one would have to make inconvenient transfers?
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mogy71
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Discussion 4 : 10 Dec 2012 at 09.264
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'Transport Minister Chadchat Sittipunt said he would call a meeting with Airport Rail Link executives to discuss problems regarding the flat 20-baht discounted fare.

He wanted to know what caused the system to run at a loss.'

He doesn't even have to read between the lines. Just read the first one.
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Mickster
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Discussion 3 : 10 Dec 2012 at 09.183
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Make it easy for passengers to connect at Petchburi MRT station. You currently have to walk quite a distance almost in complete darkness from the Makkasan APL station to the Petchburi MRT station. It does not help if you have luggages with you and you have to drag them across the railroad and local road with potholes. Also, try to make the Makkasan APL station more accessible. As far as I know, there is only one entrance/exit on Rachadapisek Road with heavy traffic during rush hours. It took me only 20 minutes to get from the airport to Makkasan APL station, but one and a half hours to get home from there.
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upena
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Discussion 2 : 10 Dec 2012 at 08.052
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Maybe they should look at reasons why it has failed - Do foreigners know about it? Is there space for luggage? Is the drop off point at the airport convenient?
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aussiedoug
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Discussion 1 : 10 Dec 2012 at 07.141
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There are people living along the train route or there isn't, they are the only customers of the city line. If they don't live there now, they will follow, just like they did the original BTS, and property prices will surge along the route, but it may take time, and the tea money will take longer to flow, be patient.If you want more usage on the airport express line then it should terminate at the BTS after the white elephant downtown terminal.
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Airport Link discount fails to pull crowds | Bangkok Post: news